


DIARIE OF A MANNE AMONG ROCKE: The Annals of William Dewey

by TrekFaerie



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: 18th Century, Epistolary, F/F, Gen, POV Outsider, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-04-09 18:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4359623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrekFaerie/pseuds/TrekFaerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Excerpts from the personal records of Beach City founder William Dewey-- and then what actually happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Playing fast and loose with both canon and history. I've always been interested in Gem influence on human history, and also on pathetic nerds. So, this was basically inevitable.

_It's through the generosity of my liege King George that I can stake my claim in the colony of Delmarva. But, it is through the generosity of the Lady General Rose Quartz that the settlement of Beach City is allowed to continue._

_After our rescue, the ladies have, for the most part, avoided us. The strangest of them, the child Amethyst, has been found rummaging around in the men's quarters or following them at their work, but the Negress-- who must be her minder-- always takes her away before much conversation can be had. (Though, I doubt much could be had either way; the girl is barely more than feral, at best. The men say they have seen her take the form of beasts. After all I have seen myself, I believe them with all my heart.)_

_Though we have searched, there are no Indian tribes to be found for miles, though the land is good, better than good. It worries me._

_We begin clearing land for a more permanent settlement in the morning. I pray their current lack of interference continues..._

 

The spyglass suddenly filled with blue, and, for a moment, William wondered if he'd accidentally fallen off the ledge and was looking at the sky.

"Ahem!"

Until, startled, he fell backward onto the meadow grass, and then he truly was looking up at the sky.

A pale, angular face appeared in his vision-- ah, the Lady Pearl. He should've known that they would involve themselves the moment the first tree fell. But, even though he'd been preparing himself for the confrontation, he still wasn't ready for it.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" she asked. It frightened him, her tone, but he caught site of Rose just a short distance away, and that calmed him. As long as the General stayed within earshot, she wouldn't be overly cruel.

... Hopefully.

"We're clearing land for what will eventually be the township of Beach City!" he said. Scared as he was, pride still filled his voice. He had waited all his life to make such a mark on the world, and he wasn't ready to let the strangeness of the land stop that. "We--"

"You're destroying the Earth, is what you're doing." She narrowed her eyes. "You've been getting by just fine with what you have. You don't need to go around making a mess for no good reason."

He threw his hands up in the air-- accidentally sending his spyglass off into the distance. "We've been living in tents for months!" he said, praying that his voice didn't really have the whine his own ears heard. "If we plan on living here permanently--"

"Which is still a matter up for consideration," Pearl said coolly.

"-- we'll need something a bit more, ah." His hands dropped impotently to his sides. "Permanent."

There was a sound like bells, the unmistakable melody of a woman's laughter, and the both of them turned around sharply.

Rose was surrounded by a gaggle of awed young men, while a particularly bold one instructed her on how to properly hit a nail. As she drove it deep into the wood, the child laughed shrilly at her feet and clambered onto the nearest man, chatting and making for his tools. The, er... _other_ just stood by silently, though William swore he could make out a smile in the distance.

Of all things, Pearl _growled_.

She started off in a huff, leaving a stunned William behind. When she reached the group, a loud conversation started-- he still wasn't sure Rose was capable of argument, or rather that _others_ were capable of arguing with her-- and his men scattered to safety. They knew better, even after such a short time, than to involve themselves.

Soon, the voices quieted, and the Lady General led her strange army over towards him. Pearl looked sullen, which he took as a sign of good fortune. Rose Quartz, towering high above him, gently placed the hammer in his hands, grasping them in her own.

"I can't wait to see what you'll build," she said, a beatific smile on her face.

And that was all she said; she turned and left for her temple, the others following at her heels. He waited until they were gone, then gasped a deep breath; he wasn't sure how long he'd been holding it. Then, he went off to find his spyglass.

(It had shattered against a tree. Just his luck.)


	2. Chapter 2

_There was only so long before the toll of living near such goddesses took its affect on my men..._

_I noticed the makeshift infirmary overflowing with bleeding, broken men-- far more than usual, though the construction work has caused many an injury these past few months. I investigated promptly._

_I learned that all the men had been seen (as the old sawbones called it) "making eyes" at the Lady General, and the Lady Pearl had taken offense to it. She's beaten all of them at swords, even the strongest and most trained! Though, thankfully, their lives have been spared. For now._

_I found the Lady and the mongrel child on the shoreline, besting yet another lovesick fool..._

 

There was blood on the sand. It was, specifically, the blood of Thomas, a young courier who had traveled to Beach City from the colony of Keystone for work. He was green in many ways, and, unfortunately, especially green when it came to the Crystal Gems.

So many men had drawn the Lady Pearl's ire over the past few weeks, but they had all been local men, many of whom had been with him since the very beginning. And, well... They'd all been stupid with drink. He hadn't given it much thought, really; after all, they deserved it, in a fashion. He liked to think a beating by a woman, even a magic one, would be suitably humbling enough to set them straight.

But, all young Thomas had done was gather up some of the strange pink flowers that grew around town and present them, shyly, to Rose, with some sort of pathetically poetical comment about how they could never match her beauty. And yet, he bled the same as the others. That didn't seem very fair.

"Miss Pearl, I really must object to this!" He avoided looking at the blood, and at Thomas, but he also avoided looking at Pearl, who was standing with her bloody sword in the sand. "Your continual butchering of my men is, um..."

"She's not murdering 'em!" Amethyst, who was making shapes in the bloody sand, rolled her large eyes. "They don't even poof or anything! They're fine!"

"I'm just trying to teach your 'men' some manners," Pearl said, smirking. "Perhaps if their leadership wasn't so poor, they wouldn't be so thoughtlessly rude to their betters."

"Well, but... I really... I really _must_ \--"

"If you do object to my methods," she said, "perhaps you'd like to save your few words and challenge me in a more traditional manner."

He knew what she was talking about. He just wished he hadn't. "... Huh?"

A sword was thrown to his feet. It was the sword poor Thomas, now blissfully unconscious, had been using.

Amethyst cackled, rolling on the sand in mirth. "Oh, c'mon, Pearl! That's not even fair!" she said. "You'll slaughter him!"

"Fight me," she said, a strange grin on her face. "Win, and I'll leave your men be. Lose, and... Well." She moves fluidly into a fighting position. "It would be a fantastic opportunity to teach Amethyst what really happens, wouldn't it?"

He heard clapping and gleeful laughter over the rush of blood to his ears.

He could run away. No one would think him a coward for running away from an unwinnable fight.

Not to his _face_ , at least.

He'd fenced some as a boy, but had never excelled at sport. The sword felt awkward in his hand, and he wished he'd been the man his father had hoped he'd be.

She stepped across the sand. She was so graceful.

"Begin."

It was all a blur, after that. The sound of metal clashing, the feel of flesh ripping, of blood pouring... He knew he hadn't made a single hit. He'd barely even blocked one.

He was going to die.

He swung the sword again-- so hard that the inertia knocked him off his feet, sending him to the ground with a face full of sand and blood. A thin shadow stood over him, and he waited for his ignoble end to finally come.

And then, he heard another sound. Metal against metal. But, it was not swordplay. It was something else.

He squinted well enough to make out the form of Garnet, who seemed to have some sort of... massive gauntlets on her hands. They were the only things between his neck and the downward swing of Pearl's sword.

"Garnet!" Pearl said, sounding shocked.

"Garnet!" Amethyst said, sounding disappointed.

"Pearl," Garnet said, voice deep and steady. "Rose would be upset if she caught you destroying one of her little pets."

He was so shocked by hearing so many words coming from the normally stoic woman at once that he neglected to feel offended by their actual content.

"Garnet, he accepted my challenge! By rights, I can--"

"Rules mean nothing when it's against humans. And you've stopped against the others. Ask yourself why this would be different."

"Garnet, really--"

"I... I _can_..."

He had, by some act of God, managed to rise to his knees by way of his sword stuck in the ground, though he wasn't sure he would be able to get up much farther. He felt their eyes on him, even as he rested his forehead against the hilt of the sword.

"... I'll keep fighting. To the death. For my men. For my town."

Silence.

He finally managed to get his breathing back under control, managed to find one small burst of life. He opened his eyes.

They were gone. Both of them. All except Amethyst, who was looking at him curiously.

"I think you impressed 'em, Big Guy!" she said, her voice softer than usual. "Well, you impressed me, kinda. You want a lift back to town? I can leave you at the place Garnet said to leave all those other guys."

He sighed, and promptly collapsed on the ground. She, apparently, took that for consent, and he found himself being lifted and carried away from the shore.

The arms that held him felt much larger than those of a child. He tried not to think too hard about it.


	3. Chapter 3

_Our crops have frozen in their fields, though it's hardly past June. Our wells are similarly solid. Meanwhile, several homes have burned to the ground, along with nearly a quarter of the surrounding woodlands. No one has died, thankfully, but it's only a matter of time before this madness starts claiming lives._

_I've received word from Amethyst-- who, though hardly more than a child, can be quite the trusted companion-- that this anarchy is due to a "lovers' spat," and that it ought to be waited out. Though I respect the Gems and their opinions, I simply can't wait for this to pass; every day that goes by brings more and greater destruction, and it's too close to harvest season to take any chances._

_Besides, I know a thing or two about soothing the hurt feelings of women. I believe I can help this young man before he happens to burn down my home. Hopefully._

 

He knew that there were some who called the Indians "Red Men." But, though he had never actually met one, he sincerely doubted that they were literally colored red.

Still, the lad in front of him looked the spitting image of an Indian brave, despite his abnormally small stature. He was pacing back in forth in front of the woods, periodically screaming in pure anguish and throwing a ball of flame towards a tree, which went up like a cheap candle.

His anxiety had forced him to bring a bucket of water he'd managed to thaw out of the ice block that was the town well, and he was glad he'd taken the time. He threw it over the smoldering remains of the tree, preventing any spread. It attracted the young man's attention, and he turned on his heel to face him, expression one of uncontrollable fury.

"What do you want, human?" he asked, his voice throaty and rough with overuse.

"I'd like for my town to not be on fire," he said softly, as if speaking to his son, or a nervous horse. "But, if that's not an immediate option, I'd quite like to talk to you."

"What's there to talk about?! I'm just... stupid!" The boy punched the air in front of him, sending another burst of flame-- in William's direction. He screamed indelicately and dove onto the ground, the top of his hair managing to only get mildly singed.

"I'm stupid to think she'd ever spend forever with a moron like me!"

He cleared his throat, but choked on it. "Ahem... This wouldn't happen to be the young blue lady I saw so upset before, would it?" he asked.

To his surprise, the boy froze, his eyes filled with fear instead of anger. "She's... upset?" he asked in a voice more appropriate for his size, small and shaky as William's nerves. "Sapphire's _upset_?"

"Oh, she seemed near heartbroken, when I saw her last. Mooning all over the corn fields."

That was a lie. He wasn't very good at lies, but he hoped the boy was too caught up in his emotions to figure that out. Amethyst had informed him that the couples' spat was over inability to communicate emotions properly-- "total feelings constipation," she'd said, in her indiscreet sort of way-- so telling Ruby that Sapphire had expressed anything would be enough to jar him back into sense.

He hadn't thought it would work. He'd assumed that they would be sending his remains back to England in a paper envelope. His wife could keep him in a tasteful urn on the mantle, or spread him over his Welsh homeland. He'd closed his eyes and expected the burn.

None of that occurred. Instead, when he opened his eyes, Ruby was gone. He could hear his shouts in the distance.

He followed the yelling to the cornfield, where he found Ruby already in a tender embrace with Sapphire, who seemed entirely unperturbed about the situation. He wasn't sure she could look any other way, really.

"I could never love anybody but you," Ruby said, barely loud enough for him to hear, before claiming Sapphire's lips with her own.

It was then that, finally, William Dewey noticed something incredibly important.

Ruby wasn't a lad at all. _She_ was a _lass_.

(His brain slowly dragged to a halt...)

... What a loving, close friendship these two young ladies had. What a virtue, female friendships.

(His brain continued up again, no worse for the wear.)

Momentarily distracted, he hadn't noticed the... change. There was a flash of light, blinding him, and suddenly, the--

(A traveling fair had come to his small Welsh village when he was around six. A tall, statuesque woman-- a Hottentot, the barker had called her-- had stood chained in an iron cage, barely clothed but for the strips of animal skin around her strange form. The adults had laughed at her foreign sounds and animal cries, and he'd laughed along.

He still didn't get the joke.)

... Garnet. She stood before him, checking the cuffs of her clothes, as if to see if anything was missing. After a long while, all three of her eyes turned to look at him, looking somewhat pained. "I'm embarrassed that you had to see that," she said softly. 

"Well, um..." He grinned uneasily and shrugged. "I'm glad to help?"

"I'll help repair the damage I've done. I'll get the others to help, too."

"I would greatly appreciate it, ma'am."

She gave him a crooked smile and, with a swipe of her hand, reformed her usual foggy glasses. "That's the first time I've been called that in centuries," she said. "It's... nice."

He flushed a bright pink. "I hope to call you it many times in the future, ma'am!" he said hurriedly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

She laughed at that. "Rose was right about you all along," she said. "You're rather endearing, in your way."

With a final, rather condescending pat on the head, she left him to wonder what, exactly, that was supposed to mean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's better than gals being pals
> 
> I was stuck so long on the middle of this! I hope it's decent enough. the chapter i've been DYING to write is next, so hopefully it won't take me another three fucking months to write it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS THE CHAPTER I'VE WRITTEN THIS WHOLE FIC TO WRITE also continuing to play fast and loose with history. sorry lapis. it looks kinda less shitty when it's like 400 years compared to 5000.

_A small ship, battered and worn, barely made it to the docks today. It brings word from the old country-- from my family, my bride, my investors-- and a dire warning: if we cannot slay the strange beast that has been causing such severe ocean storms around the area, no captains will attempt the treacherous journey. Few dare even now..._

_I fear Beach City shall soon fail without steadier reinforcement and trade. The fish and forests are plentiful, and the farmland good, but the men thirst for more, and there are finer colonies only a short while from Delmarva._

_I shall not fail them. Not this time._

_I called upon the Lady General, and she agrees to accompany me on my quest to rid our fair village of this creature. However, she insists on bringing along a guest..._

 

They set out in a boat that was, in his opinion, far too small for what they planned to do. It was a modest cutter, borrowed from a local fisherman who hadn't been able to use it much since the monster arrived, and better suited for such things as that. It had no weapons, and a simple wave could wash them both out to sea.

William couldn't even swim.

There was also the matter of the cat.

Well, at least he thought it was a cat. It was much larger than any house cat he'd ever seen, and colored pink, which was certainly not a normal color for a cat, at any rate. It had massive teeth, and massive tufts of wild hair... It reminded him rather of the Lady General, who was clearly fond of it and had fussed over it like a mother throughout the entire trip.

"It's not that I don't trust your judgment, General," he said, watching her adjust the sails and pilot the ship with far more skill than he'd ever possessed. "It's just that I believe we are going to need a bigger boat."

She just laughed and shook her head. "If it were any larger, we'd frighten her. It's better this way."

"Frighten? You're concerned about frightening this... this beast?!" He stood too quickly, making the boat rock slightly beneath them, before falling over, desperately grasping the side of the boat. The cat growled-- could cats growl?!-- from its curled up position on the floor of the ship, and he prayed to any god that could hear him that he hadn't trod on its tail. "She's killed scores of men, beaten massive ships against the shore like a child's toys! Frightening her is the least of our many, many concerns!"

"You think of her as some sort of monster, when really she's more like... Hm, how to put this in a way a human would understand..." As she mulled the question over, she pulled a spyglass, soft pink and blazoned with her crest, out of the cat's great mane. She scanned the horizon with it before returning it. "She's a wounded animal. In great pain, such pain it's driving her mad... She's merely trying to protect herself from greater harm."

"You speak as if you know her," he said, though he was still dubious about the whole thing. "Did you?"

"I don't think I did. I know her type... I know what she was, but not who she was... It's sad, really," she said softly. "At least with those who served directly under me, I can mourn them the way they deserve. I can't give this one that. All I can do is try to keep her from further harm, to herself and others."

"I do hope we're included among the 'others.'"

"You worry far too much, William," she said with a laugh. "If I'd thought there'd be a true fight, I would've brought the Gems along, not you."

The water began to churn around them, knocking the boat from side to side. William found himself thrown off his feet again, and when he tried to grab something to break his fall, he fell directly onto the cat. It roared; he was sure it roared, but though it opened its maw wide, the sound was nothing like the scream rushing waves.

And the actual screaming.

When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but pink fluff. Once he'd pushed the cat's mane out of his face, his eyes came upon what was perhaps the most awesome sight he'd seen since meeting the Gems: Rose, bathed in an unearthly light, was standing at the bow of the ship, holding her great arms out as what he assumed was the monster-- a massive, frothing beast of blackish blue ocean waves-- reared up, as if to swallow them all whole. Pink light, as if from angels, shot from her, seeming to scald the monster-- that was what made it scream. The scream sounded all too human, and he buried his head in the cat's fur until it stopped.

When he looked up again, the sea was calm once more, and Rose was standing with her back turned to him. She turned her head, smiled softly, and held up her prize: a remarkably beautiful gemstone, unfortunately marred with a massive crack.

"Lapis Lazuli," she said. "They're always very difficult Gems to crack. Incredibly powerful off Homeworld, on planets with true water systems. I've never known one that wasn't kind and selfless. Very noble friends. Fine soldiers."

"She's lovely," he said, for lack of better words to say. "Can it be healed? Her injury?"

"Very few Gems have such powerful healing abilities," she said. She had a sad, wistful expression on her face, and when she walked towards him to reach into the cat's mane once again, she seemed to pointedly avoid his eye. "If we were still on Homeworld, perhaps... But, not here. Once they've gone monstrous, there's no helping them. I've found this one far too late."

She pulled a beautiful mirror out of the mane, and gently, tenderly, placed the gemstone at its center. "When Gems have been injured to the point where they're out of control, it's customary, on our world, to use them for their energy," she said. "Their strength powers our greatest weapons, our tallest buildings... And, our silliest trinkets and baubles. Like this one."

She handed the mirror to him, and he took it with the solemnity he thought it deserved. It truly was beautiful; he'd seen grand mausoleums less fine... He looked at his reflection in the glass, and wondered if whatever the monster-- or whatever she had once been-- could see him."

"You must think us monsters."

He looked up suddenly, and was shocked to find the Lady General's eyes welling with unshed tears. He hadn't thought... Though, he supposed it was quite normal, for a leader to cry over their fallen men. Had he not wept for every settler taken by disease or injury, or for the crews washed away by the cruelty of nature and broken Gems? To cry over one you hardly even knew... That was certainly noble.

He was quiet for a short while, and then stood, holding the mirror out to her with both hands. "There's a colony, south of here, formed solely as a prison, for debtors to work off what they owe," he said. "Surely that's equally monstrous as what your kind does."

Another enigmatic smile, even as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. "A scale model of our cruelty, perhaps."

She looked down at the mirror, giving it a gentle stroke before placing it back within her cat's mane. "I hope she'll forgive me," she said. "I'll never forgive myself."

 

Their ship pulled up to shore after dark, when no one, neither human nor Gem, was to be seen. William watched 

"General--"

She laughed and shook her head, though she did take his offered hand. "I do wish you'd agree to call me Rose, William," she said. "Are we not friends? Do friends not call each other by their true names?"

"I... apologize, my lady. R-Rose." He swallowed, hard. "Lady Rose. As I was saying, I wish to ask you a question, if I may be so bold."

"You may. I encourage it."

"Well, my lady... You see, you've told me so much more about your kind this trip, far more than I've ever heard during our previous conversations. It leaves me curious about something..."

"Ask."

"Why did you leave your home, and fight against your own people?"

Her face stilled to perfect neutrality. It worried him deeply, but just for a moment, as it quickly broke into a wide grin. "My, that is bold!" she said. "I'm pleased. I never would've expected such a question from you."

"If I may be bolder, my lady, I'd like an answer to my question."

She was quiet for a while, before she said, with absolute finality, "I had my own, selfish reasons."

"And they are...?"

"My own."

"That is selfish."

He bit his cheek hard enough to draw blood, but she laughed. "I'm told it's something you can get used to, after a time."

Once he was sure he'd get no true answer-- and once the heavy shame at having even asked such a question passed-- he gave her a tight bow. "Rose Quartz," he said. "I thank you for solving this terrible issue, and continuing to help my fair village survive."

She returned it with a sweeping gesture. "William Dewey," she said. "It's my greatest pleasure."


	5. Chapter 5

_Now that the awful matter of the sea creature is settled, I can finally focus on much more joyful news: my approaching reunion with my family. My beautiful wife, Margaret, and my son, Barric, have decided to join me now that the colony is more settled. I've missed them terribly._

_I'm quite interested in how they'll react to the Lady General and her band; my Maggie is the daughter of a prominent jeweling family. To meet women born of gemstones will surely delight her._

He went to stand on the dock the moment he saw the ship appeared over the horizon, only pausing to pick a handful of spring flowers from his front garden. As the ship approached, he couldn't help the excitement buzzing in his breast; and if the dockworkers thought it funny to see their leader, bouncing on the heels of his boots and grinning like a lovesick fool, well... None of them had ever been married, had they?

The passengers-- mainly young men eager to make their way in the New World-- disembarked quickly, so that other young men could scrabble aboard and start removing the precious cargo. He peered curiously up the gangplank, but... It seemed that all the passengers had left, and his family had not been among them.

He stopped a young sailor, coughing nervously to get his attention. "Pardon me, lad," he said, "but was there a young woman and her child aboard this ship...?"

He paused, then grinned, shaking his head. His heart fell into his stomach before he heard the young man say, "You'll never believe me if I told you."

"Oh, you'd be very surprised by what I can believe, young man."

At such urging, the young man spun a fantastic story, about a young woman and her son being visited in the night by beautiful, goddess-looking women in strange colors, and carried off on the back of a fierce lion. "Sorry, mate," he said, clapping William hard on the shoulder with a look of pity in his eyes. "They probably got et."

"... Ah, no, I don't believe they did."

He left the young man to ponder that while he slowly trunched off to the temple, still holding the spring flowers in his tensed hands.

-

He came upon his wife drinking tea at a small table with Rose Quartz; Pearl stood at their side, like an attendant. Garnet and Amethyst were gone, but as Barric was nowhere to be seen, he assumed they were with him. Of course, he wasn't thinking too much about specifics at the time. He had trouble thinking about most anything when his Maggie was around.

Margaret was a solid, pale-complexioned woman with strong Germanic features and more thick ringlets of black hair than she clearly knew what to do with. Just seeing her brought a warm feeling to his heart.

(Their marriage had not been one of love, but of pooling resources. But, he'd found love, eventually, in her bookish nature and emerald eyes. He fancied that she'd found something, too-- he hoped for anything at all.)

"William!" Rose's eyes lit up when she saw him. "I hope you don't mind that I stole your wife away from you! After all the wonderful things you've told me about her, I just couldn't help myself!"

She didn't smile-- how rarely his Maggie smiled-- but there was a slight twitch of her cheek. "I hope I've lived up to such high expectations."

"Oh, you have, and more! It's been such a long time since I've gotten to meet a female human-- your species has been doing such a clever job of hiding them away these past few thousand years!"

"Humans like to hide their treasures." The words were out of his mouth before his brain had a chance to think them over. Pearl let out a cruel little sniff of a laugh; Rose chuckled from behind her hand.

And Margaret... Well, she simply stood.

"I thank you for the tea, ma'am," she said, giving a slight curtesy to both Rose and Pearl, "as well as the riveting conversation."

"I hope to have you and your charming child over again very soon," she said. "Whenever you ever happen to tire of male company."

Though Rose and Pearl were both still there, sitting at the table and starting up an idle conversation, he felt like he was alone in the world as Margaret moved closer to him. Like they were the only two people left alive.

His first act towards his wife in three long years was to shove a handful of heat-wilted flowers in her face.

"I... I picked these for you. From my garden. Our garden. We have a garden." He looked up at her. "I've left a few plots bare. I know how you're so fond of growing from seed rather than tending grown plants."

She gently took the bouquet from his trembling fingers and brought it to her face, taking a deep breath. Her cheek twitched once again. "They're lovely," she said softly. "Thank you."

"I've missed you."

"And I, you."

"-- Daddy!"

He felt rather than heard the word, as a small weight had latched itself onto his calves, causing his legs to nearly buckle underneath him. He looked down to see a mop of dark hair change into a red, grinning face. Barric had only been four years old when he saw him last; he a boy of about seven years, now. Nearly half grown. And with an apparently impeccable memory.

He wished he could lift his boy, but he'd struggled with that when he was still a toddler, so he settled for ruffling his curls. "My, how you've grown!" he said. "I hope you weren't causing much trouble for Miss Garnet and Amethyst."

"No trouble at all," Garnet said with one of her little grins. "He's a very well-behaved young gentleman."

"He's great!" Amethyst's face was cracked with a wide smile, and though she was always a cheerful character, he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her so happy. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen it at all. "It's been ages since I've gotten to play with a real human kid!"

Once Barric had said his goodbyes, they finally left the temple and walked back to town, William holding his wife and son's hands in his own, and wondering if it was possible to die from sheer contentment.

-

It wasn't until they'd put an exhausted Barric to sleep that he realized the feeling of contentment wasn't mutual at all.

"Margaret? Is something the matter?" He stood tentatively in the doorway to their son's room, wringing his hands. His wife sat in his usual chair by the fire, in such deep thought that he wasn't entirely sure she'd heard him. "Maggie? Maggie, you know how I hate to wonder what's on your mind. Won't you tell me?"

"I'm quite curious," she said, at length, "what that woman's game is."

"'That woman...?'" He frowned. "I believe that the Lady Pearl is just foul-humored--"

"I'm not talking about Pearl," she said. "I'm talking about Rose Quartz."

"I see... Well, no, not really. What part of her 'game' are you so stuck on?" He couldn't imagine the Lady General playing games. She had always seemed so straightforward to him!

Another long pause. "Her name."

"What about her name?"

" _Will_. I know gemstones. Gemstones are in my very _blood_. And that woman is certainly no rose quartz."

"She isn't?" He frowned. "Whatever could she be?"

She smiled, slight but true, and shook her head in mock frustration. "My dear man, isn't it obvious? She's quite clearly a diamond."


	6. Chapter 6

_I'm pleased to say that my family has settled in very well, particularly young Barric, who has taken to clutching at the Gem's skirts as often as he does his own mother's. He's grown very close to Amethyst especially. Though she's of an age my mortal mind can hardly fathom, she's very much of a childlike mind, and I believe having someone who matches that is pleasing for her._

_Things have been going so well, recently. It's like a golden age for our town. I hope it never ends._

He should've known. As soon as he'd written that line in his journal that morning, he should've known. The ink dried and sent a message off to the Fates, who saw fit to punish him for his hubris. He should've known better.

It was nearing noon, and he was busy overseeing the building of a new section of the dock when it happened. Margaret was nearby, chatting amiably with Rose, Pearl, and Garnet. Everything had been so quiet, so perfect.

"Help, help!"

Amethyst was running fast, faster than any human would be capable, a look of terror on her face. She passed everyone and threw herself onto Rose's legs, weeping into her trousers. "We were just playing!" she wailed. "We were just playing, up on the cliff, a-and he, he just--"

William's blood ran cold in his veins. Barric. Where was Barric? Where was his son?

A crowd had already gathered at the base of the cliff, and he had to push past them (well, Garnet pushed them, he merely followed her through) to see what had happened. His son, his only son, was facedown in the sand, his body twisted in an unnatural position, his breathing shallow and labored. When Margaret sat to turn him over, he let out an agonizing cry.

"He fell!" Amethyst's face was covered in tears and snot, coming too quickly for Pearl's handkerchief to remove. "I didn't catch him! I'm so sorry! I didn't know he'd _break_ \--"

"Step back."

The crowd parted again. Rose moved gracefully yet urgently to Barric's side, her face stone as he screamed at her touch. She settled him into her lap, wiping blood-sticky hair from his face and murmuring soothing words.

Everyone stood stock-still. You could've heard a pin drop.

Instead, there was singing.

If asked later, William wouldn't be able to recall a single lyric, a single word. He felt more than heard the song, watching Rose's lips form the words as her eyes closed, as crystalline tears fell down her cheeks and onto Barric's face. He watched as his son's pained moaning and twitching settled down, as he seemed to fall into a deep sleep as the tears soaked his face.

After a long while, Rose looked up, and gently handed Barric off to a stunned Margaret. "He should be fine within a few days," she said gently, smiling through the shed tears. "He'll be sore for a while, but nothing is broken anymore. He'll live."

William felt his heart swell with joy, with gratitude-- but, just as he was about to embrace the General and thank her profusely for what she had done, he heard it. The crowd... Something dark was going through the crowd, which murmured and backed away from the Gems, suspicion and distrust in their eyes. They had always known the Gems were different, had seen more evidence of their magic and power than even the greatest skeptic would desire. But, something about bringing someone back from the brink of death had done something that the magical fire and transformations had never done: it had made them afraid.

There was fear, now. And William knew how easy fear became hate, and hate became violence.

He looked down at his son, now looking normal as ever, and sadness tugged at his heart. The price of making his child whole was to be great indeed, and part of him wondered if it would truly be worth it.

-

They met one last time on the beach at dawn, long before anyone but the fishermen were up and about. For a while, they were silent, just sitting on the sands and contemplating their predicament. William glanced off to the side, saw where his son's blood still stained the ground, and put his head in his hands.

"Don't feel bad about it," she said quietly. "This happens every time I try to play with humans. Someone ends up hurt, and the others end up afraid."

"We humans like to keep our gods at a distance-- close enough to worship, far enough away that their powers seem more like a promise than a reality." He sighed. "The townsfolk have asked for a fence, bisecting the peninsula. Your kind on your side, our kind on ours."

"A fence." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "That doesn't seem terribly protective. Anyone could climb over it."

"It'll give them pause, though. To consider what they're doing. Perhaps a sign..." he said, trailing off. "The responsibility for the fence will be ours entirely, of course. All maintenance and repairs. All we ask is... Well..."

"To never see us again."

He looked up, but not at her face. He couldn't bear it. "I wish this could have ended some other way," he said. "If it ever had to end at all."

"Everything ends, on this planet. That's half of its charm, really."

Rose stood, extending her hand to William, who took it and allowed himself to be lifted off the sands. "I'll miss our conversations, William," she said, giving him a fond smile. "Though, will you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Keep your little town going, growing. Give me something to watch from up on that hill," she said. "Let me watch generations of Deweys hard at work, making their little mark on this big world."

He nodded solemnly, thinking back to his son. That was one promise he was sure he could keep.

William Dewey shook Rose Quartz's hand, and never saw her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dedicated to Lu, who told me to "BREAK HIS LITTLE BOY SPINE"


	7. EPILOGUE

There was a lovely sunset going on. Pearl didn't particularly care for sunsets, even lovely ones, but she very much wished it had gotten Rose's attention, made her leave her perch on the other side of the hill, made her come and sit down next to her, instead of just...

She sighed and stood, going to stand by her 

Rose was enraptured by the scene before her: the men of the town quickly and diligently building the fence that would soon divide their worlds, while Will Dewey wandered around with his face in his plans, mumbling out orders and generally being entirely useless. He tripped over a man digging a hole in the sand, and she laughed. Rose glanced at her, then returned to watching them.

"I suppose we won't have to leave," Pearl said, after a while, sitting down a respectful distance away from Rose. "At least we're not being chased out of town by a mob. Again."

"You make it sound like that happened every time! It was hardly more than..." A pause. Rose began to count on her fingers. When she ran out, she shook her head. "Well, I'm glad we're not. I've grown very fond of this place."

"You've grown very fond of him." The bitter jealousy in her voice surprised even her. "I still don't see what's so interesting about him."

"You never see what's so interesting about any humans."

"Yes, but he's even less interesting! He's so..." She trailed off with a grimace. "He's a sad, timid, sweaty, whiny, self-serving, perpetually useless, willfully ignorant, _wrinkly_ \--"

"Pearl." Her voice was as kind and gentle as ever, but it stopped Pearl in her tracks better than if she had raised her voice. "I feel as if, instead of you asking me why I'm so fond of him, I should be asking you why you feel such hatred for him."

"I don't hate him. I just..." She felt her face flush. "I don't think he's worthy of being your friend! He doesn't deserve your kindness.

"Mm, I don't think that's true. Even if I put some sort of requirement on my friendship, I would still like him," she said. She watched William spit sand of out his mouth, having fallen again, and smiled. "In all their years of existing on this planet, I've yet to meet one as brave as he is."

"Brave?" She scoffed. "He's not brave! He's a coward!"

"Wasn't it brave, when he refused to back down when you tried to stop his men from building their settlement?"

"No, that was obstinance."

"Wasn't it brave, to challenge you to a duel to spare his men, even though your skills in swordplay greatly outmatched his?"

" _No_ , that was stupidity!"

"When he came between Ruby and Sapphire in a fight, something even we wouldn't do?"

"We don't do it because it's suicide! He's a fool!"

"When he faced a Gem monster by my side, though he's just a human?"

"He hid behind you and took all the credit for your deeds!"

Rose looked at her fondly, and placed a large hand on her back. "Do you want to know a secret, my Pearl?" she asked in a whisper, though they were very much alone. "Do you want to know why I think all those things make William Dewey the bravest man I've ever known?"

She blushed further and turned her head away. "You might as well," she said stiffly, "for I'll never guess it on my own."

"Because he tries."

Pearl risked a glance at her. The confusion on her face must have been very obvious.

"He tries so, so hard. And even though he fails at nearly every single thing he does, it doesn't stop him from trying the next time. Because he knows the few times he doesn't fail..." She paused, looked back at the settlement, almost a full city in its own right. She looked at the little house in the middle of it, where she knew a young boy was busy at play, a bright bundle of potential, of a legacy continued... "... He knows it's worth it. Worth every failure, for just those few successes."

She shrugged. "I don't see what's very brave about that," she said. "Keeping at something, even though you know success is so improbable... That's just insanity."

Rose reached down to take Pearl's hand in her own, fingers tracing lines where bandages had once been. "It's braver than you know, Pearl," she said. "Braver than you'll ever know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE! I thank y'all from the bottom of my heart for sticking around this long. I hope it was good for you, too!


End file.
